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Diamond Colours
- by Lilywho Ltd
Lilywho Diamond colour guide;
This is a guide to understanding the colour grades of a diamond. A Lilywho perspective!
There is an industry standard, colour grading scale for all Diamonds. Colours start with the letter D, for colourless, and go down as far as Z for diamonds with a yellow or brown tint. IGI or GIA Natural & Lab Diamonds will show the exact colour grading on the certificate.
You may notice very little difference with a drop of one colour grade, for example it may be difficult to see a difference between a D and E colour, as it's almost invisible to the untrained eye. As you start dropping down multiple colour grades, it can become clearly visible, especially so, when you look at 2 different diamond colour grades, beside each other.
Up until lab grown diamonds became a very popular choice, F, G & H were the more common colours in the earth grown diamond industry. The emergence of lab grown diamonds have made higher grade colours like D & E more common as they are now so much more affordable.
Both Earth Grown Diamonds and Lab Grown Diamonds are valued by how close they are to being colourless. (among other factors of course) As a general rule, the whiter the diamond, the higher the value. There is a significant saving to be made by purchasing a natural earth grown diamond with a lower colour grade however there is not as big a saving to be made by dropping a colour grade in the lab grown alternative.
D is the best colour grade. You do not necessarily need to buy a D colour diamond to have a beautiful white diamond. We suggest going for a D/E in a lab Diamond as the value is so good compared to their natural earth grown counterparts. F, G or H are still very white looking to the naked eye and are perfectly acceptable, especially in earth grown diamonds where a colour D or E can be a lot more expensive.
If you are on a budget, you can choose a lower colour especially if the clarity and the cut grades are high enough. You can still have a very beautiful diamond, at a much lower price than a colourless or a near colourless one.
- D, E, F: are colourless
- G, H, I, J: are near colourless
- K, L, M: have a faint yellow tint
- N, O, P, Q, R: have a very light brown or yellow tint
- S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z: have a light brown or yellow tint
Love Lily x
